39

Elaine

My first instinct was to turn and run back the way we came, faster than my legs could carry me. Away from this deeper mess, I was about to put myself into. Away from this disastrous night ahead of me.

I was too dazed to even talk. The alarm bells were ringing loud like sirens in my ears, and fucking Lord, I wanted nothing but to heed them. The problems couldn't stop coming. Up until now, Max knew nothing about Finn. Involving his family made me feel even more guilty than ever, and all I could imagine was the worst scenario possible. What if they got all personal and wanted to know more about me; my family, my occupation before I met Max, my life in Manhattan? What if they asked if I'd ever gotten an abortion? If I had a child?

Oh, God. Oh, God. I wanted to throw up so bad.

There was no way I could lie to them. It wasn't in my DNA to be so deceptive, and I couldn't evade this night since we were here already. This wasn't the way things were supposed to go. This wasn't how I w